My new beautiful art feed

During the first big Twitter exodus, back in mid-November 2022, it felt like the last day of summer camp. Everyone was sharing their forwarding addresses, posting their handles on other platforms so we could all find each other again. I was no longer a poster by this point, but an inveterate daily lurker. I'd spent years crafting a feed full of artists and writers and other creators, along with just enough news among the art and memes to keep me informed. Through strategic follows and robust filter lists I'd managed to carve out a cozy beautiful space for myself, free of most of the general Twitter toxicity - until Elon killed it. After firing most of the staff, forcing his posts into everyone's timelines, re-platforming hate speech accounts, and shoving through various changes that started breaking off bits of functionality... it was clearly time to move on. I took stacks of screencaps of my following list and their goodbye notes, downloaded an archive of my account, and left.

Wanting a chance to reflect on my media habits and examine my relationship to them, I took a long break before signing up for new accounts anywhere. In that gap I was surprised by how much I missed my handcrafted feed. Sure I was on other platforms, and my usage of those increased a lot in the following months. But nothing else filled the Twitter-shaped hole in my media diet. I came to realize how much I'd relied on it, as not just a fun mindless scroll but a necessary part of my workflow. It brought me news and art inspiration and job info. It helped me feel connected to the outside world in a way that was hard for me to access elsewhere, especially as part of an immune-compromised household still living in deep pandemic isolation.

Eventually I heard that some of my favorite art weirdos were setting up on Bluesky, so I signed up as soon as it opened up to the public in spring of 2024.  First thing I did was painstakingly look up everyone from my old Twitter screencaps and added every account I could find. I followed the advice of the Bluesky elders who generously explained how to configure things to one's content preferences. I surfed through the starter packs and added anyone that seemed creative and cool.

And lo, I got back my beautiful art feed. 💜

In fact, it was better in many ways because the Bluesky culture was small and cozy and seemed fiercely determined to not repeat the mistakes of Twitter. I saw a community-level commitment to safety and good vibes that echoed the choices I'd made for my own feeds years ago and took them one step further.

This year I've watched several new waves of artists arrive from The Bad Place and remark on how uniquely peaceful and fun it is on Bluesky. I've seen the way the community has welcomed the newcomers and shared information on how to protect themselves and the good vibes. Folks encourage others to block bad actors into oblivion and starve the trolls of attention. To label AI-accounts and art thieves and to safeguard your peace against even tiresome discourse you're not into. Artists are enthusiastically sharing resources and supporting each other in a way that warms my heart.  

I'm still pretty wary of social media in general, and still more of a lurker than a poster. (My approach is basically this Bow meme, throwing likes and RTs at your art and then scampering away.) Bluesky isn't perfect, but the culture is the best I've seen on social media in a good long while.

Ditch your X if you haven't already and come join us here.

 ~Chuck

Getting away from the octopus

In fact, some of you are probably already over there right now. Chuck and I grabbed our spots in Bluesky early on. Peeking in more and more as the platform kept changing. And as the traffic numbers kept getting bigger. 

And if you're one of those: you can skip straight down to the cool links section to find some art we like. See you next newsletter! 

For everyone else: we aren't leaving you behind. We imagine some of you reading this might still feel a bit stuck. The mud and sludge of years of posts may still be up past your waist. So how do we get you out from under all those tweets you're buried in? Let's get you free with our favorite thing: a lot of links.

First, we recommend you start with backing up your twitter account. This may take a moment to get to you, especially if you've been on there for a while. But keep an eye on your email. And check your spam filters. 

When you finally have it, save it somewhere and open up the archive to take a look around. This archive will have all your images and videos (media) in standard resolution. Congrats! You're ready to safely move out.

But what do you do next? That depends on what's keeping you anchored.

Is it all the people you follow? There's a browser extension called Sky Follower Bridge. It will help you find all the people you follow from Twitter and reunite with them over on Bluesky. (Their paid plan offers more searches and extra speed). They even have a little video showing you how to do it right here. The chrome version is recommended but there's a Firefox edition here too.

Or maybe you're like us and don't want to leave anything behind? We understand. I decided to keep my account to do research (and to prevent anyone from taking my name). But will still be deleting all my tweets. If this is like you, there's the service called Redact that will go through and delete your tweets for you. And another option here that just takes a little tinkering with Javascript code. Don't worry: this article does a great job guiding you through it. 

But if you're like Chuck, you may want to remove your account altogether. So once you've got your backup: go ahead and cancel your account. 

And just in case this is a little too brief: here's a step by step guide that goes pretty in depth.

~ Kevin

Building your Bluesky (to not be Twitter 2)

Now that you're here, what do you do? We recommend taking a little time to dig in and learn just enough to make this place a little better for you. 

First, Kevin really recommends you go through your settings. It can be boring, but there's isn't a lot of them and you may discover some interesting features. We find it's a good way to learn how this platform is unique.

As you poke around you'll find plenty of options to help make your time on Bluesky more pleasant. From adjusting your nudity preferences to tools that automatically label accounts across the platform: Bluesky has a wide range of moderation features. This thread does a good job guiding you through each one.

Now that your seatbelt is on, let's go driving around. Bluesky offers a few ways to find things. We'll begin with Starter Packs, which give you a collection of people to follow in one go. Our recommendations are the Original Art Merch Artists pack and Webcomic Creator Packs. 

Next are feeds, which are Bluesky's way of helping you build little rivers of posts. For example you might just want to see what your friends are liking. Or you may just want a feed of new art made by humans. Feeds offer a unique way of controlling what you read. But also help artists make it easier for people to find their work in a different way than tags. Artist Lizzi breaks down why they make a feed and use tags here.

If you want to keep customizing, we really recommend this guide by the Verge. It runs down even more tweaks you may like to make. (And for those of you that really, really liked the old Tweetdeck: take a peek at deck blue, SkyFeed, and Graysky.)

Wrapping up

Whew! That's a lot of resources, right? We hope that all our digging about helps you get situated and excited to try out this new platform. For those of you that like to dive right in: tuck this email away for a rainy day when you've got time to kill. For everyone else: stay safe, have fun, and please send us any fun, unique, human made art you find.

See you over there!

Cool Links Zone